THE RECESSION may be forcing the purse strings to tighten – but not if you are a child in Southampton it seems.

A new study has revealed that parents are spending a whopping £8.4m a year on pocket money for their kids.

Children in the city are pocketing an average of £7.55 a week, well over the national average of £6.32, making them some of the most well paid in the country.

Gone are the days of scraping together enough for a penny sweet mix, now youngsters in Southampton can afford to go to the cinema three times over with their weekly pay according to the figures by personal finance charity pfeg.

But while children seem to be enjoying a boom time, Southampton’s Supernanny warned that parents should be more cautious with the cash.

Islay Downey, senior parenting practitioner for Southampton City Council said she thought the figure may be a little excessive.

Islay said: “That figure does seem terribly large for a week.

“As parents we have to think about pocket money responsibly, especially in the credit crunch.

“You have to look at what the aim is for giving pocket money and being sensible with how you manage it as a parent.

“Pocket money is a very personal approach to children and some people like to give pocket money because it makes children more responsible about money.

“If they spend it all on sweets then they can’t get any more and if you go on that and don’t give in then pocket money can be very useful.”

Her words look likely to be heeded by Southampton parents, a quarter of whom told the survey they would be making cuts in the harsh economic climate.

Hampshire woman Jane Kerkhoff is one mum who has never given her son Jamie, 17, any pocket money due to his refusal to help with household jobs.

Jane, 45, said: “He wouldn’t do any jobs like tidy his room or empty the dishwasher, he was never money orientated so subsequently he went without.

“If he had done some work around the house for me like washing up, emptying the dishwasher or tidying his room I would have probably paid him about £10 a week.”